Day 3: Grand Teton and first day in Yellowstone

I'm being lazy and waiting for Patrick to sort through the photos for each day before I write the blog posts. But he's slowed down a bit on that the past few days so I might have to step up and sort through some.

Our third day of vacation, we checked out of the hotel in Jackson and that night we would stay in West Yellowstone, about 125 miles away. The drive between Jackson and West Yellowstone (at least the one we took) goes through both Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. So we spent half the day in Grand Teton, caught a couple things in Yellowstone to break up the drive, and then headed up to where we were staying.

We started the morning with a boat ride across Jenny Lake, where there's a trailhead for two hikes: Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. We hiked up to Hidden Falls, which was very crowded, but it was an easy half-mile hike so we didn't expect anything different.

From there, the trail usually is just another 0.2 miles up to Inspiration Point. But this summer they're doing trail maintenance, so the hike was about a 3 mile round trip from the trailhead. It was slow and steep. And it was really hot out. 

We met another family while hiking. They were from Philadelphia and had two teenaged boys. Their family had a list of national parks they were working through. The wife's favorite national park (so far) was Arches. I don't remember what the rest of the family said, but I know they had good things to say about Acadia, which will likely be our next trip.

But the view at the top was pretty excellent.

You can tell (or maybe you can't) that it was a little bit hazier this day. Apparently the wildfires in Washington were blowing smoke this far, so by the time we returned a week later you couldn't see the Tetons nearly as well. I'm so glad we took lots of pictures the first two days.

We  took a picture at the sign on the way out.

...and took a picture on the way in to Yellowstone!

We stopped in the Biscuit Basin to take a break from our driving.

We checked into our hotel in West Yellowstone at probably 6pm or so. No refrigerator. No microwave. No Internet. (Also precious little courtesy from the hotel staff.) But really we just needed a place to sleep so that's okay.

West Yellowstone is kind of like Gatlinburg or Myrtle Beach--mostly expensive and kitschy. There's about eight square blocks of restaurants and shops, all walkable. Out west there's not a lot of variety in food, though. Most offerings fall under the category of "American"--burgers, pizza, steak, no vegetables. So it was a challenge sometimes finding good food. But that night we ate at a taco bus (not a truck) and it was good and cheap.

We wandered around the shops and restaurants a little then turned in for the night. Next day: Old Faithful and a whole bunch more geothermal features!

the pre-adventure: Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks (days 1 and 2)

As a celebration of my graduation and having jobs and in recognition that soon we'll have to actually count vacation days, we decided to take a vacation this summer to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. We just got back from it a couple days ago. We're still going through all the pictures to pick out the best ones.

Overall--what an incredible trip. We had so much fun. It was really great to not check my e-mail or Facebook for two weeks. I brought my iPad but resolved to not touch either of those things for the time we were on the trip. Over the course of the summer I've been slowly disconnecting from both e-mail and Facebook to try to have a healthier balance--more of a check once or twice a day rhythm than a check every time you're bored or have a spare minute habit. To my delight, even after letting both go for two weeks, I look back and can say that I didn't miss much at all! Sure, there were e-mails to be answered but probably only 20 out of the 100 or so I got were actually important. And the important things that people shared on Facebook were things that people actually told me about through some other media (phone, text, news article, etc.). So my new resolution is to not waste so much time looking at things that just don't matter.

We left on the 23rd, flying from Charlotte to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We were really tired when we got in. We spent some time walking around Jackson and saw their nightly "gunfight" in the town square, then got some rest.

The next day, we went to Grand Teton National Park. We bought bear spray (which, thankfully, we didn't have to use). Then we started enjoying the scenery around us.

The Tetons were formed exactly like they look like they were (at least to me). The earth's crust just got pushed up above another section of the earth's crust. Then they were shaped by glaciers and weather. For scale, that brown dot in the middle of the frame below is me standing out in the middle of the plain leading up to the Tetons.

 Then we set off on our first hike, a round trip to Taggart and Bradley Lakes. We saw a mama and baby moose along the way.

 

The hike was pleasant. Along the way to Taggart Lake, we met a family who are missionaries in Istanbul through Cru, so that was kind of cool. The hike went through a lot of different kinds of terrain with views of the Tetons the whole time.

Taggart Lake was pretty and it felt good to stick our feet in the cold water after the hike.

We continued on to Bradley Lake, which wasn't worth the trip by itself, but there was a pretty good elevation gain so you could see down on Taggart Lake. 

 After that hike I don't think I've ever been so dirty in my entire life. We were covered in sunscreen, bug spray, and so much dust that it looked like our legs were three shades darker than normal.

We drove up to the top edge of the park, stopping several places along the way. Signal Mountain offered a near 360 degree view around the park.

About dusk, we went to Oxbow Bend (on the Snake River) to look for wildlife. The most wildlife we saw was mosquitos! I think they actually thrive on the DEET there. We did see an eagle from a distance, and a beaver swimming. The river was so still that you could see the reflection of the Tetons in it.

We drove back to Jackson and packed up--we would stay in West Yellowstone the next night. We were hoping to go out and see the stars. There was also potential of seeing the northern lights but it ended up clouding so much in the evening that we thought the likelihood of that was low. Plus we were tired from hiking, so overall I think the good night's sleep was the best decision.

Well that's it for the first two days! I'm trying to keep it bite-sized so I don't have to spend a half-day writing about anything. More updates later as I have time.